Grand National Roadster Show

As the traditional kick-off to the yearly indoor car show season, the Grand National Roadster Show never seems to disappoint. And though it has been held in several locations throughout its 61-year history (from NorCal's Bay Area to SoCal's digs), its current spot at the L.A. County Fairplex in Pomona, California, might be its best.

2/37The winners of this year's America's Most Beautiful Roadster award are Mike and Dianna Dingham for their '33 Ford roadster "Possessed." For more on this ride see page 46.

Always wanting to burst at the seams when held at the Oakland County Arena or Daly City's Cow Palace, the event now has the space to spread out between several well-lit and expensive buildings and showcase the best of what hot rodding is all about.

For the show, some of the buildings are themed, with suede and customs taking up one room, while competition cars from several decades filled Building 9. In Building 3 a special collection of cars that made the covers of either STREET RODDER or Rod & Custom magazines were presented in a museum setting (with artwork on the walls and no ropes or stanchions to keep people away), and in Building 4 is where you'll find what all the hub-bub is about: competition for the America's Most Beautiful Roadster award trophy and honors.

As with any indoor car show, you'll find those things that are designed to bring "regular" folk to the show (i.e. TV's John Schneider or Playboy's Erika Eleniak), but for anyone interested in seeing nearly every type of hot rod known to man in one location, the GNRS is the place to be.

3/37Donald Hamilton from Albuquerque, NM, had Jamie Johnson at Hot Rod Haven put this '31 Ford coupe together with lots of custom touches, including flush-fit doors, a 3-inch chop, a '32 cowl vent, and lots more before Johnson sprayed the car PPG Lombard Blue. A '51 Caddy 331 supplies the power. Hamilton also won first in his Early Altered Street Coupe Pre-'35 class.

In addition to all those great cars, attendees also had the chance to watch and bid on artwork that was being created in front of their eyes at the fifth annual Pinstriper's Reunion, where proceeds from the show-within-a-show would go to the Alzheimer's Foundation of America.

On Saturday and Sunday of the three-day event, hundreds of folks were able to drive their hot rods through the gates and into the Fairplex and park between the show buildings, and in doing so nearly doubled the amount of cars someone could go and see.

Also on Saturday morning the Grand National Roadster Show's Hall of Fame held a luncheon where builders Zane Cullen, Keith Dean, Dick Jackson, Dan Woods, and collector Bruce Meyer were all inducted to the prestigious group.

Any time you get the chance to hang out with your buddies and check out cars can only be classified as a good time. So imagine doing that with a few thousand more people and hundreds of cars and you'll soon figure out why the Grand National Roadster Show continues to be the place to be!